(Hartford, CT) — Attorney General William Tong joined a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general urging Congress to protect children from cannabis copycat products. These unregulated, illegal products are designed to look like popular snack items and are contributing to increased accidental THC consumption in children.
On June 16, the FDA warned that between January 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022, National Poison Control Centers received 10,448 single substance exposure cases involving edible products containing THC. Of these cases, 77 percent involved patients 19 years of age or younger. The Connecticut Poison Control Center has reported 189 cases of marijuana edible ingestion in children under age 19 since 2020. Of those, 150 were sent to the emergency department, and 66 were ultimately admitted to the hospital.
Widely available, easily mistaken for name brand snacks such as Oreo cookies, Doritos chips, Cheetos, NERDs, and more, cannabis copycat products often are unintentionally given to children or mistaken by children for the brand name snack products, resulting in unsuspecting children ingesting large amounts of THC.
“These lookalike products are unregulated and unlawful and may contain highly concentrated doses of THC. While responsible adults may be able to check serving sizes and consume these products without harm, a child who accidentally eats the whole package could become very sick. Connecticut has legalized adult-use cannabis, but many of these products fall well outside the range of what will ever be safe or authorized for sale here. Sellers may be subject to civil action under Connecticut’s consumer protection laws, but Congress needs to step in and help stop the spread of these copycats nationwide,” said Attorney General Tong.
Under Connecticut law, cannabis products may not be sold under a brand name that is identical or similar to the name of an existing non-cannabis product. Moreover, when retail establishments are licensed to sell cannabis, edible products will be subject to strict safety controls. For example, a single adult serving size of an edible cannabis product under our statute contains five milligrams of THC, and a multiple-serving package of an edible cannabis product shall contain no more than one hundred milligrams of total THC. Some of the cannabis lookalike products currently for sale contain five to six times that limit. Sellers may be subject to legal action and substantial civil penalties under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The attorneys general say that while they do not all agree on the best regulatory scheme for cannabis and THC generally, they all agree on one thing: copycat THC edibles pose a grave risk to the health, safety, and welfare of our children.
Congress should immediately enact legislation authorizing trademark holders of well-known and trusted consumer packaged goods to hold accountable those malicious actors who are marketing illicit copycat THC edibles to children.
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